This invention relates to a smoking apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus which holds a smoking pipe and loose smoking material. The invention also relates to a milled wooden blank for use in manufacturing a smoking apparatus, and to a method for manufacturing a smoking apparatus.
There are many compact smoking systems in the prior art which are designed to help smokers reduce the amount of tobacco they smoke. Most of these systems have a base and a lid. The base generally has a receptacle for carrying loose smoking material and a pipe receptacle where a pipe is housed. The lid, in some fashion, covers openings to the receptacles in the base when closed, and exposes the receptacles in the base when the lid is in open position.
The pipe housed in the pipe receptacle is upwardly projected above the top edge of the base by the means of a spring when the lid uncovers the pipe receptacle. The vast majority are made out of wood, and have a design that makes them difficult to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,214,658 and 5,465,738 disclose smoking systems in which a pipe is moved into accessible position by means of a resilient element when its cover is slid to the side. U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,310 discloses a smoking system with a pivotably mounted lid. The configuration of these prior designs does not facilitate simple manufacture.
Prior smoking systems had designs which included contours such that the depth and/or width of the systems changed in the linear direction from the top of systems to the bottom of the systems, such that they could not be manufactured in a simple operation using a multiple-head milling machine. For example, the lids in the slide-top versions shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,214,658 and 5,465,738 flared outwardly from their top to their bottom. Other designs for pivot-top designs are shown, for example, generally in FIGS. 24-29 of the this application. With contours 26 and 27, these designs have a depth, from the front of the device body 21 to the back of the device body, which is not constant from the top of the device to the bottom. The contours 26 and 27 do not travel the entire length of the body. In particular, the shape of the body of the device near the top, where the contours 26 and 27 are, is not the same as the shape of the body below this contour. This aspect makes manufacture more difficult, and precludes simple manufacture using a multiple-head wood milling machine. These machines mill the same shape down the entire length of a piece of wood, and thus do not produce the shape shown in these figures. Additional wood shaping operations are required to produce the final product including contours 26 and 27. Moreover, sections 36 and 37 of the lid 22 (attached by fastener 28 seated in recess 10 at hole 25) must be machined into the lid to expose the full diameter of the receptacle 23 and receptacle 24 for pipe 15 when the lid is rotated, and cannot be machined into the lid in the same multiple-head milling operation which machines the body. These devices are therefore more time-consuming and costly to manufacture.
It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide a simple smoking apparatus design that facilitates mass production; to provide such a design which facilitates mass production of a plurality of smoking apparatus body sections from a single piece of wood in a simple milling operation; to provide such a design which facilitates mass production of smoking apparatus body sections and smoking apparatus lids from a single piece of wood in a simple milling operation; and to provide such a design which facilitates production of smoking apparatuses using a multiple-head wood milling machine.
Briefly, therefore, the invention is directed to a compact wooden smoking apparatus comprising a smoking apparatus body having a body top, a body bottom, and body external side walls; wherein the body has a constant peripheral contour in cross sections taken in any plane generally parallel to the body top and body bottom; a smoking material receptacle in the body having a smoking material receptacle opening at the body top; and a lid for the smoking material receptacle, the lid having a lid top, a lid bottom, a lid width, lid depth, and lid external walls;
wherein the lid has a constant peripheral contour in cross sections taken in any plane generally parallel to the lid top and lid bottom.
The invention is also directed to a compact wooden smoking apparatus comprising a smoking apparatus body having a body top, a body bottom, and body external side walls; wherein the body has a constant peripheral contour in cross sections taken in any plane generally parallel to the top and bottom of the body; a smoking material receptacle in the body having a smoking material receptacle opening at the body top; and a lid for the smoking material receptacle, the lid being pivotably attached to the body top.
In another aspect the invention is a wooden blank for use in the manufacture of a plurality of compact wooden smoking apparatuses, the wooden blank comprising an elongate piece of milled wood comprising a first end; a second end remote from the first end; a longitudinal axis extending from the first end to the second end; a plurality of smoking apparatus body sections disposed between the first end and the second end; and a constant peripheral contour in cross sections taken in any plane generally perpendicular to said longitudinal axis.
The invention also includes a method for manufacturing a compact wooden smoking apparatus comprising milling an elongate piece of wood into an elongate wooden blank imparting a constant peripheral contour in cross sections taken in any plane generally perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the piece of wood; cutting lateral sections of a first length from the wooden blank to produce a plurality of smoking apparatus body sections; and boring a smoking material receptacle into each of said plurality of smoking apparatus body sections.
Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.